TUSCUMBIA– A dear friend and contributor to The Quad-Cities Daily, Mary Carton just turned Sixty and here are a few lessons she has learned along the way.
Lesson #1: All those folks you that sent those turning sixty and turning fifty jokes 
get pay back big time.
Lesson #2: The day after you turn sixty you don’t feel any different than you did the last day you were fifty-nine.
Lesson # 3: If you walk down the driveway in flops, don’t take a turn into an overgrown pile of nut grass and decide to start weeding. Some sort of critter will run across your foot.
Lesson #4: If you are slicing a big juicy tomato, make sure you aren’t near the edge of
the counter. It will make a big splatter when it hits the floor.
Lesson #5. The 10 second rule does not apply when you drop the best slice out of the middle of a mater in a dirty sink.
Lesson #6: A ham and cheese sandwich chews a whole lot better when you get ALL of that little paper that is between the slices off of the cheese. Sometimes there may be more than one piece of paper.
Lesson #7: When you go to work out in the yard and spray yourself down with mosquito repellent all over except your hair, the mosquitoes can and will find the part in your hair and your ears.
Lesson #8: You’ve just taken off your clothes and getting in shower when Mom calls. She’ll keep calling every two minutes thinking something has happened to you. As you are getting out of the shower, she’s banging on your door.
Lesson #9: When you are driving back from the Rattlesnake Saloon in the dark and a skunk strolls across the road in 
front of your truck, you have two choices. Both will create a stinky situation, either for your truck or your passengers. I remember when riding with Dad over to Corinth to pick up cotton seed hulls to feed the cows, he used to tell us to be sure to take an extra pair of underwear.
Lesson #10: You really don’t realize how many friends you have on Facebook until you start saying thanks for the birthday wishes for each and every one who sent you a birthday message. Just wanted all to know I appreciate each and every one of the 411 friends I have.
Lesson #11: When lying on the ground watching the clouds trying to decide what they look like, 
be sure you check for fire ants.
Lesson #12: If you are taking flower or bird photos in flops, don’t take a turn into an overgrown pile of nut grass in the flower bed and decide to start weeding. Some sort of critter will run across your foot.
Lesson #13: If it starts running and you make a mad dash for the house, your dogs will run ahead of you and make a sudden stop thinking you are telling them to look for a critter.
Lesson #14: Don’t use that metal crowbar used to move a heavy bookcase away from the wall some to pop off an electric cord in the outlet behind the bookcase.
For those who may wonder, yes my home office looks as cluttered as my work office. I do have a few more projects 
that I’m working on, so there are more piles at home.
There is a good reason for that 2 by 4 on the floor in my office did have a use. It was used to protect the baseboard in Lesson #14.
House cleaning takes a back seat to working in the yard during the spring and summer. If you want to see a clean house, don’t come to mine right now.
While walking around taking pictures for a page on Facebook that I’m one of the co-
founders for called Remember Tuscumbia, I’ve found out that we have some wonderful people living in the Shoals. I can’t tell you how many bottles of cold water I was given while wandering around Tuscumbia and Spring Park during the Helen Keller Festival. Most just know me as the lady who takes pictures in Tuscumbia, and that’s fine.
One lesson I don’t need to learn is that I have some wonderful friends. Thanks Grace, Julie and Elmo, Verborie, Jean and her family, and those at the Lagrange Living Historical Society picnic for helping me bring in the big 6 O.
